Completed British 19th C, except portraits, Continental European after 1800 13 Can anyone identify this coastal town?

Town on a Coast
Topic: Subject or sitter

This should be identifiable, probably as another southern Italian view.

Pieter van der Merwe, Maritime Subjects, Entry reviewed by Art UK

Completed, Outcome

This discussion is now closed. This painting has been identified as a view of Salerno from near Cetara. The Art UK record has been updated accordingly and the new information will be visible on the website in due course.

Thank you to all for participating in this discussion. To those viewing this discussion for the first time, please see below for all comments that led to this conclusion.

12 comments

An Art Detective user emailed The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum this link to Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidault's 'Landscape with a View of Salerno' (1788). The similarity between the two views is convincing and the collection would like to rename the painting accordingly.
https://bit.ly/2OcyVXV

Very convincing and well-spotted. 'View of Salerno from across the bay' or 'from the west', might be slightly more specific, A quick look at Google maps suggests Smith's viewpoint is at or near Cetara, further round the bay to the west, with the smaller town to the left (by the diagonal tear of the paper) being Vietri.

I'm happy to support a conclusion on those lines, leaving it to the collection to decide which option it prefers.

Thank you, and to whoever pointed out the Bidault picture: an exemplary demonstration of how a relatively simple question can be resolved by a lot of people keeping their eyes open and one of them spotting the evidence.

A reminder that the Art Detective procedure is that the relevant Group Leader(s) should formally recommend a conclusion to a discussion. The identification of this scene by Michael Pearce is indeed completely convincing and a new title 'View of Salerno from near Cetara' would be appropriate.